By: Wes Messamore
The Humble Libertarian
(THL) It's been a great decade for Second Amendment gun rights supporters in the United States and it's about to get better.
In 2008 the Supreme Court decided in District of Columbia v. Heller that the District of Columbia’s ban on handguns was unconstitutional, and in this case the Supreme Court established for the first time in history a Second Amendment right to bear arms for the purpose of self defense.
In 2010 the Supreme Court decided in McDonald v. Chicago to "incorporate" the Second Amendment right to bear arms for self defense through the 14th Amendment to apply as a restriction on state and city violations of the right to bear arms as well.
In 2012 a federal district court in Maryland decided in Woollard v. Sheridan that the right to own a gun for self defense, upheld in Heller, and incorporated with a guarantee against state and local intrusion in McDonald, also extends outside the home.
And now the U.S. Supreme Court, already the friendliest Court to gun rights in history before the two Trump appointments, is taking up a case in New York to decide if the right to bear arms extends outside the home. They will most assuredly decide it does.
When this happens, the entire United States will become like Texas or a number of other shall-issue states in which concealed carry permits to carry a concealed firearm outside of the house are issued to anyone who meets the determinate criteria with no requirement to prove that they need a firearm for any reason and no discretion of local bureaucrats to deny permits.
I'll be looking forward to seeing if the rest of American society becomes as polite as most Texans are when that happens, and I believe it will. An armed society is a polite society.
The Humble Libertarian
(THL) It's been a great decade for Second Amendment gun rights supporters in the United States and it's about to get better.
In 2008 the Supreme Court decided in District of Columbia v. Heller that the District of Columbia’s ban on handguns was unconstitutional, and in this case the Supreme Court established for the first time in history a Second Amendment right to bear arms for the purpose of self defense.
In 2010 the Supreme Court decided in McDonald v. Chicago to "incorporate" the Second Amendment right to bear arms for self defense through the 14th Amendment to apply as a restriction on state and city violations of the right to bear arms as well.
In 2012 a federal district court in Maryland decided in Woollard v. Sheridan that the right to own a gun for self defense, upheld in Heller, and incorporated with a guarantee against state and local intrusion in McDonald, also extends outside the home.
And now the U.S. Supreme Court, already the friendliest Court to gun rights in history before the two Trump appointments, is taking up a case in New York to decide if the right to bear arms extends outside the home. They will most assuredly decide it does.
When this happens, the entire United States will become like Texas or a number of other shall-issue states in which concealed carry permits to carry a concealed firearm outside of the house are issued to anyone who meets the determinate criteria with no requirement to prove that they need a firearm for any reason and no discretion of local bureaucrats to deny permits.
I'll be looking forward to seeing if the rest of American society becomes as polite as most Texans are when that happens, and I believe it will. An armed society is a polite society.
